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Security and safety – understanding the difference

The terms “safety” and “security” are often used analogously, as if they had the same definition or the same objectives.

Certainly these two words have the same etymology and the same Latin root “securitas”. But by looking more closely at the definition of these, the difference can be seen in the origin of the cause.

Definitions of safety and security

Safety

It is the set of measures allowing protection against any spontaneous or deliberate act aimed at harming institutions, societies, businesses, etc. We then speak of malicious acts, terrorism or even crime.

Security

Set of protection measures against defects, damage, errors of a physical and material nature. In summary, security is synonymous with accident prevention and security with crime prevention.

Countries, industry and science

Countries, industry and science do not clarify the situation with a host of definitions.

At the country level, some languages ​​only have one word for “safety and security”. This is the case of Spain (seguridad), Portugal (segurança), but also of Denmark and Sweden. The French and English languages ​​use two words: “security – safety” and “security – safety”.

Understanding and translation remain ambivalent from one language to another. Also, the meaning of these two words is not always the same depending on the language or field of activity. For example, the English word “safety” is translated as “sureté” in the nuclear field, while the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) translates “security” as “safety” for many other sectors of activity.

Understanding the difference between security and safety

First of all, we must understand the meaning given to the notion of “being safe”. The best way to explain it is with examples: “A young woman is walking very late at night, when she is surprised by a storm. To protect herself from the rain, she quickly took refuge in the basement of a nearby parking lot. But is she really safe? There is no doubt about the rain.

“Sheltered from the rain in the parking lot, she heard some noises which were ultimately just the crackling of the faulty lighting system.” The description of the first case provides physical protection from rain. On the other hand, the second (noise + faulty lighting) plays on the emotional aspect specific to the person. It is possible that it has an impact on the young woman’s feeling of security. Through this example, we see that security, with the feeling of “being safe” highlights both emotional and physical notions, and that the two must be combined for overall security to be achieved.

Now consider the same situation described previously, but once in the parking lot, the young woman is accompanied by the person responsible for the parking lot to the Security PC who offers her a coffee to warm up. Only when emotional safety and physical safety are ensured is the person “globally safe.” Security plays the role of physical security and safeguard, thus guaranteeing consistency of security.

Now let’s take another example: “For security purposes, particularly in the event of a fire, it is imperative to have as many doors as possible to facilitate the exit of people present in a building. Conversely, for security purposes, it is necessary to control traffic flows, therefore to have as little access as possible.” This example demonstrates that the objectives and values ​​of safety and security are sometimes contradictory.

Finally, the example of the “dumpster fire” also allows us to clearly understand the limit of the two boundaries between security and safety. Naturally, we will tend to classify this event in the “security” domain with the intervention of the fire service. But if the act is intentional, it will originate from safety (I light a fire intentionally) with an implication of safety to stop the damage. In this case the two actors will have concomitant actions. On the other hand, if the origin is accidental, only safety will be impacted.

 

Global security

On a daily basis, security has the role of putting in place means and devices to protect people in the evolution of their environment (fire, work, environment, etc.). On the other hand, security aims to protect our environment from malicious human actions. For many years, the players in these areas of employment (safety and security) did not consult together, each defending their prerogatives. Despite numerous attempts, decompartmentalization remained timid until the 2000s.

It is the dramatic events that Europe and the rest of the world have gone through over the last three decades that will accelerate decompartmentalization. The convergence of these events involving safety and security risks, have activated these previously independent interactions, bringing to the fore the needs of global security. But also by interacting and pooling all existing devices and means to reduce risk through hypervision of systems. This convergence leads more and more to use the term global security instead of security and safety.

Overall security is the state in which the risk, whatever its nature, is reduced to an acceptable level for the company, the State, etc. Under the term Global Security, security and safety are closely linked, but also cybersecurity, data protection and governance of information systems, crisis management, etc.